Canadian Hadwin cruises to TLA victory in Bogota

By Golfweek Staff

Sunday, March 27, 2011

With four rounds in the 60s, Canada's Adam Hadwin cruised to a six-stroke victory at the Pacific Colombia Tour Championship in Bogota, Colombia.

Though a slow start in the final round whittled away his lead, Hadwin recovered to post a 3-under 69 at Bogota’s Club Campestre Guymaral Course No. 1. That enabled him to win the tournament that was co-sanctioned by the Tour de Las Americas and the Canadian Tour.

Second place was shared by Chile’s Benjamín Alvarado, who carded a best-of-the-day 7-under 65, and Argentina’s Tomás Argonz, who finished with 69. For Alvarado, it was his third consecutive top-2 finish this TLA season. He won the Chile Open three weeks ago, and placed second last week in Barranquilla.

Colombia’s Jesús Rivas finished as the top local player in the event, which awarded US $130,000 in prize money.

“The front nine was a bit of a grain for me. Tomás (Argonz) was hitting it well and it was only a matter of time before he started making his putts, so I needed to step up," said Hadwin, who earned a US $23,400 winner’s check. In the past two weeks, he had missed cuts at the TLA events in Colombia. "I got a couple of late birdies on the front and then played really solid golf on the back, making the birdies when I needed to on the par-fives.”

This was the Tour de las Americas fourth and final event the month; collectively, they awarded a total of US $500,000 dollars in prize money and Official World Golf Ranking points for the first time ever.

The 2011 TLA season will resume in May with the TLA Televisa Players Championship in Acapulco, Mexico, and the Peru Open in Lima, Peru.